The End and The Beginning

Nearly 2 years ago I launched a free eCourse, calling it the Freedom Fighters. In a way, naming it after a well known (and many times violent) political resistance movement was a bit brash. Obviously we’re not fighting a government with heavy artillery.

Although, in a way, we are, aren’t we? Fighting for your personal freedom is the most important movement you will ever be involved in. Your heavy artillery is your brain power.

Even so, this is the end.

The information in the Freedom Fighters eCourse is nearly 2 years old and it’s time for a change. You have 48 hours to subscribe if you want to receive all the messages. In early January I’m deleting all the messages (they arrive over time which is why you only have 48 hours to subscribe and get them all) and they’ll be gone forever. No amount of begging or pleading will help as I won’t be able to undelete them. I don’t keep a copy on my computer.

The e-mail list will still stay alive and I’ll send messages as I have been. I may even continue to call it the Freedom Fighters.

The difference is you’ll be receiving messages from me because you want to receive messages from me and not because I bribed you with receiving the free eCourse.

Ch Ch Ch Changes and 20% Time

There are a lot of other things changing. I’m working less on the information product business and more on other businesses. Businesses that don’t live and die by my name. In other words, I want to create things and be able to step away if I want. I don’t want to be the “face” of the business.

Additionally, as much as I love the information product business, my ego wasn’t seeing or feeling the direct results of what I was trying to accomplish with it. I’m not saying I’ll never release another information product and I’m not saying that it’s not a legitimate business. (Hell, I’m working on a couple Kindle eBooks and those count as information products.)

Maybe this sounds a little selfish, but it’s important to me to see I’m making an impact. Otherwise I should just go back underground and do what I used to do. (Not going to happen.)

The main thing I’m working on is still under wraps, but I’ve also been testing out “20% time” ideas. I’ve found these quicker projects help me focus and generate ideas for the 80% project.

Let’s talk about the only 2 “20% time” projects that have seen any light of day.

I’ve received a lot of great feedback about how to improve or grow the QuickGig website. I launched it in under an hour so that is to be expected. I also directly asked a handful of people for their feedback. It was 90% positive. Some of it was exceptionally positive.

I’m considering all of it, but I don’t have any huge goals for QuickGig. A lot of the QuickGigs I post will probably be for little jobs related to that “80% time” startup. ;)

Sure, there are a lot of ways QuickGig can make money in the future, but I’m happy making it a free service that I can utilize myself even if no other employers ever use it.

In other words, it doesn’t need to grow for it to be a valuable project to me and lots of other people. (Maybe you!)

In a way, it’s the co-op business model. If an employer wants to use it to hire someone for a small job, they can. It’s free, after all. If a QuickGigger wants to use it and get paid, it’s free and they can. We’ll see if it will expand over time.

That said, I’ve refined the idea a tiny bit. Instead of projects that earn at least $10 per hour it is now for projects that earn $10-$20 per hour. Subtle, but important, difference. This means if you’re a highly skilled programmer or designer who demands $45/hour you won’t waste your time following @QuickGig and getting notices about research projects that pay $12 per hour.

The perfect demographic for QuickGiggers is stay-at-home moms and dads or college students who want fairly easy and quick gigs (hence the name) they can do for extra cash here and there. There’s no commitment for long term work and it’s an easy way to pick up a little extra to pay for a night on the town, or dinner, or even to pay down debt or stash away in savings.

I’ve also been working with the one and only Norcross on a project called BandVine. This is a fun project for us as we’re both huge music fans and want to help bands make more money. (They are notoriously bad at business.)

We’re actually very close to launching in beta so if you’re in a band or know someone in a band that plays live shows let me know and we’ll let you/them test out the system for free.

“OK, OK, But What About That Startup?”

It’s not quite the type of thing that can be successfully launched in a 0.1 version and I won’t be talking about it in any specific terms until we’re launched. This is not some cheap hype or anything like that. You’re not even necessarily the proper demographic for the website so you probably won’t even be interested in it from a user standpoint. That said, I’m excited to launch it, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do!

Thanks, as always, for your support. And feel free to get in touch. I’ve been getting a lot of funny responses when I respond to e-mails, along the lines of, “You actually respond to your e-mail?” I’m not the President. Just a dude. Yes, I answer all e-mails and am happy to help where I can.

Karol, please add me to your list of 100 who made it!
This year, I quit my corporate wage-slave job and am creating an online medical coding business (which I have a passion for). I am enjoying much more freedom, light, and air. Thank you for your encouragement and interesting observances along the way.
Best wishes in your upcoming endeavors!